1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of vaccines, and more particularly to antitumor and anticancer vaccines. The invention also relates to the field of methods of treating and inhibiting tumor growth, particularly prostate tumor growth and cancer.
2. Related Art
Prostate cancer is a significant cause of cancer mortality in the western world.′ Because current methods of treatment have shown only limited success in advanced cases, methods to reduce the incidence of disease would yield clear, significant benefit. Previous methods to prevent prostate cancer have focused primarily on dietary factors such as selenium2.19, dietary fat4, and lycopene′5′6.
Though some potential benefit of vaccination has been demonstrated for treatment of individuals already having the disease7,8,9, little work has been done to examine the possibility of preventing prostate cancer through vaccination.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,689 (Falkenberg et al.)21 relates to the use of irradiated tumor cells for the prevention and treatment of various cancers, the vaccines therein having been prepared from established cell lines grown in vitro. Hrouda, et al. relates to the immunization of rats with a whole tumor cell vaccine and a non-specific adjuvant.16,17 A recombinant poxvirus encoding tumor-associated antigens has also been described that was reported to protect rats against transplanted Dunning AT-2 prostate cancer cells.19 A mixture of cultured allogeneic human prostate cancer cell lines which were inactivated by irradiation were used to extend the median time to disease progression in patients with high PSA values.20
These and other described vaccines were derived from single antigens or monoclonal cell cultures, and therefore when administered to an animal, offer limited antigenic challenge, and hence immunity to the animal. Because tumors exist in vivo in an environment composed of multiple cell and tissue types, a need continues to exist in the art for preparations that include a more representative composite of tumor and supportive tissue antigenic species. A need continues to exist in the medical arts for more effective treatments to halt and prevent cancer and tumor growth.